Jittery Capture in MPEG Format

[Mega D]

When I try to capture video from a TV source in X2 the picture seems to shake up and down a lot in the saved video if I use a format other than the DVD option. When I capture in DVD mode it looks fine, although the files are of course enormous. The video in the preview window looks fine until I hit the capture button, so I don't think it's an issue with the source or with a connection.

I'm completely new to this, so please excuse me if I'm missing something obvious. I'm trying to capture from a TV source with an ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro. Thanks for any advice. Here are some more details about my system:
Windows XP Home, SP3
Athlon 64 3000+
1 GB RAM
ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro
On-board AC97 audio from MSI K8N-Neo Platinum motherboard

[2Dogs]

Your pc should be up to it, so it's unlikely to be a cpu issue.

Have you tried using the software that came with the All-in Wonder card? did it come with software?

You normally get the most consistent and usually best quality results when using the bundled software. You can then just use VS to edit the captured footage.

[Ken Berry]

... And I should point out that though you might think DVD-format files are 'enormous', in fact they are relatively modest (around 4 GB for one hour of video at the highest quality settings) compared to DV/AVI (13 GB per hour) or uncompressed AVI (65 GB). Depending on what you plan to do with the captured video once you edit it -- e.g. if you intend to burn it to a DVD -- then it is simply better to use the DVD format from the start. And if you are pressed for hard disc space, then the price of large capacity drives has fallen dramatically in recent years...

[Mega D]

Your pc should be up to it, so it's unlikely to be a cpu issue.

Have you tried using the software that came with the All-in Wonder card? did it come with software?

Ugh. I've been banging my head against the metaphorical wall of ATI's bundled software for three days. While I was originally able to get it to work back when I got it (three or four years ago), I hadn't used it in a long time. Now I can't get it working and I haven't been able to find much in the way of help for it. That's why I finally started just trying other products like VS. I'm so frustrated with ATI's bundled software that I'd be willing to pay for something new (I'm currently using VS's free trial) if it will actually work.

EDIT - Update on the bundled software: Support from ATI got back to me and said that the included software won't work with XP SP3, and they don't intend to update it.

... And I should point out that though you might think DVD-format files are 'enormous', in fact they are relatively modest...

Sure. I was just trying to preemptively answer the question of "If it works in DVD mode, why don't you use DVD mode?" The main thing I'm trying to do is make digital copies of a bunch of VHS tapes, usually running 90 to 120 minutes each. Making really high quality recordings of them is a bit inefficient since, being VHS tapes, the source itself isn't really high quality. I'd like to be able to get a whole one on 1 DVD if it's possible. It could be that I'm going about this in completely the wrong way. I don't know much of anything about working with video and am just stabbing in the dark. Is there a more appropriate tool I should be using?

[2Dogs]

EDIT - Update on the bundled software: Support from ATI got back to me and said that the included software won't work with XP SP3, and they don't intend to update it.

When I loaded SP3 onto my laptop, it used up over 1Gb of additional space on my hard drive, so I reverted to an SP2 image. I ran my old desktop for years on XP SP1 before I did a clean install of XP SP2. Everything I've read about SP3 suggests it does nothing to improve performance, and they still issue security updates for SP2.

Irrelevant of course if you've already updated to SP3 and don't have a restore point set.

I've had some recent dealings with ATI support in connection with a video card I recently fitted to my pc. I would describe those dealings as "cumbersome" at best!

I was just trying to preemptively answer the question of "If it works in DVD mode, why don't you use DVD mode?" The main thing I'm trying to do is make digital copies of a bunch of VHS tapes, usually running 90 to 120 minutes each. Making really high quality recordings of them is a bit inefficient since, being VHS tapes, the source itself isn't really high quality. I'd like to be able to get a whole one on 1 DVD if it's possible.

I think DVD mode is appropriate to what you are trying to achieve. You won't see any benefit from using the highest available video bitrates, since your source footage is only VHS. I think a video bitrate of around 6000kbps should work well, and that will allow you to fit about 95 minutes of footage on a single layer DVD, assuming you are using compressed audio too.

For a 120 minute video, you would need to drop the bitrate to 4800kbps, but that might not result in any noticeable degradation of your picture quality anyway.

All of the above is well and good if you can alter the video bitrate in your VHS capture. It may however be fixed. You would then have to re-encode the captured mpeg2 video, still to DVD compatible mpeg2, but at one of the bitrates mentioned above depending on the project duration. That will unfortunately result in some loss in picture quality, though it may only be slight.

If your principal concern is to end up with the best possible picture quality on the DVD's, and you are limited to a fixed bitrate for capture in DVD mode, it might be best to capture to a less compressed format, say DV avi if that is an available option. (though you stated that anything other than capture in DVD mode was problematical) The file sizes will be larger, and you will need more free space on your hard drive, typically 13Gb per hour of footage, maybe more if there is no option for capture to DV avi.

Capturing to DV avi you would then use the footage in a VS project and output that to DVD folders, or an ISO file, or even direct to a DVD disc, or a combination of all of those things, using the suggested video bitrates.

It could be that I'm going about this in completely the wrong way. I don't know much of anything about working with video and am just stabbing in the dark. Is there a more appropriate tool I should be using?

Better to light a candle than to rage against the darkness! Nothing ventured, nothing gained! You can only learn by trying, and on this forum, the only stupid question is the one not asked!

You probably have options to capture in DVD mode, which will result in DVD compatible mpeg2 files, SVCD mode, an older lower quality mode which will result in mpeg1 files, and hopefully also in DV avi mode.

Can you list what options you see for capture?

One thing to bear in mind is that the life of DVD's burned from a pc is a bit uncertain, as opposed to the pressed commercial discs used for movies and so on. If you want to use the DVD's as an archive, you should consider using high quality blank media, such as the premium grade discs made by Taiyo Yuden, usually only available from online sellers. I use them exclusively for all of my stuff, and they cost me no more than utterly mediocre mainstream media available in stores, whilst at the same time giving much better burn quality.